by Doran Miller-Rosenberg & Jim Weber, special for USA TODAY Sports

by Doran Miller-Rosenberg & Jim Weber, special for USA TODAY Sports

The fine folks at Lost Lettermen share their list of the most disliked coaches in college basketball.

10. Jerry Tarkanian

"Tark the Shark" won big while also getting in trouble with the NCAA at Long Beach State, UNLV and Fresno State - all of which were hit with NCAA penalties on his watch. The most infamous incident was a picture of Runnin' Rebels basketball players from the 1989-90 national title team in a hot tub with notorious gambler Richie "The Fixer" Perry that eventually led to Tark's 1992 resignation.

Not only did the NCAA fail to get rid of Tarkanian, they also lost $2.5 million to him in a 1998 harassment lawsuit. Only someone like Tarkanian could escape that much NCAA inquiry and end up richer for it.

While Calhoun did a lot of great things in the community, don't tell that to opposing Big East fans that hated his guts. He had his share of coaching feuds, most notably with John Calipari, and was always ready to blow a fuse with the media when someone questioned his coaching ability or salary.

Calhoun always wanted things done his way and had a quick temper when that didn't happen. When he finally retired before this college basketball season, he prolonged the decision long enough that it forced UConn to name Kevin Ollie his successor - just as Calhoun wanted.

It was a perfectly fitting way for him to go out.

8. John Chaney

Chaney holds the distinction of being the only coach on this list to threaten to kill another coach in a room full of cameras. Somehow, Chaney received only a one game suspension following that 1994 incident with John Calipari. And it wasn't the last time Chaney would resort to violence.

In 2005, Chaney admitted to sending in backup forward Nehemiah Ingram to commit hard fouls against Saint Joseph's because he was unhappy with poor officiating. "I'm going to send in what we used to do years ago, send in the goons," said Chaney. The tactic resulted in Saint Joe's John Bryant breaking his arm. Amazingly, Chaney again served only a one-game suspension.

Fans of opposing Atlantic 10 Conference teams didn't shed any tears when Chaney, a man in a constant fit of rage on the Temple bench who routinely tore apart his own wardrobe during games, called it quits in 2006.

Huggins' nickname is "Huggy Bear," but this hated coach sure isn't known for being cuddly.

Hatred for him began at Cincinnati, where he was perceived to coach "thugs" (most notably Kenyon Martin). A paltry 28% graduation rate among his Bearcats players only added ammo to those who felt Huggins was terrible for college sports. Known for being a hothead on the bench, Huggins further damaged his reputation when he pleaded no contest to a DUI charge in 2004, which played a part in his resignation in August 2005.

That notoriety followed Huggins to Kansas State when he hired Dalonte Hill as an assistant coach in a shady "package deal" with super recruit Michael Beasley, who played for Hill's AAU team in Washington, D.C. The hatred has subsided a bit since he arrived in Morgantown in 2007. However, he's made it clear even to his own students that you still won't like Huggy Bear when he's angry.

6. Rick Pitino

It's a good thing New Yorkers have thick skin, because this sweet-talking Long Islander native has been called every name in the book over the last two decades in the NBA and college basketball.

Shameless self-promoter. Egomaniac. Whiner. Opportunist. Weasel. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. No one hates Pitino more than the fans in Lexington, who watched him leave a dream job at Kentucky for the NBA, only to return to college ball four years later to coach bitter rival Louisville.

Fans like to point out that Pitino looks a lot like Al Pacino in the 1997 film The Devil's Advocate - especially in his patented white suit. In case you haven't seen the movie, Pacino plays Satan.

With his slicked-back hair and expensive Armani suits, John Calipari is like the Gordon Gekko of college basketball coaches. Those snake-oil-salesman mannerisms rankle a lot of people - among them Jim Calhoun, who called Calipari "Johnny Clam Chowder" for faking a Boston accent while coaching at Massachusetts.

Some fans think Calipari could be as crooked as Gekko, too. Final Four appearances at UMass and Memphis were vacated due to NCAA violations. These days, some are unwilling to believe his success at Kentucky, with rosters full of one-and-done future NBA lottery picks, is legit, and they point out he never has been personally implicated by the NCAA.

4. John Thompson

Nowadays, Thompson comes across as a gentle old papa bear for his son, Georgetown coach John Thompson III. How quickly people forget the disdain he once faced.

When the elder Thompson coached the Hoyas, he was notorious for his profanity-laced tirades. One earned him three technical fouls during one play of a 1990 game at Syracuse, where Thompson mockingly waved to the Carrier Dome crowd while being ejected. Thompson was also no friend of the media, routinely restricting access to his team in what was dubbed "Hoya Paranoia."

Sadly, a lot of the vitriol directed at Thompson was racist in nature for creating a team that was almost exclusively black - with players like Michael Graham, Allen Iverson and Victor Page - at an elite, private university.

In his 42 years at Kentucky, Rupp became one of the greatest college basketball coaches of all time, and also one of the most disliked due to his nastiness. Rupp ran his teams as if he were a drill instructor, and years after playing for him, former players spoke of Rupp like an abusive father.

"He wanted everybody to hate him, and he succeeded," UK legend Bill Spivey once said. "He called us names some of us had never heard before." Added former Wildcat Tommy Kron, "He was a tough, gruff kind of guy who would verbally abuse his players to get them to play harder."

The Wildcats' dominance in the Southeastern Conference under Rupp proved, to a certain extent, that his tactics worked.

Rupp has been further demonized over the years by portrayals of racism, such as a very unflattering Sports Illustrated article by Frank Deford. While accusations of racism have been strongly challenged in the Bluegrass State, the perception remains and tarnishes his legacy in the eye of the public.

2. Mike Krzyzewski

Krzyzewski has won four NCAA championships and more games than any other coach in Division I history. This in itself has made him one of the most hated coaches of all time.

The fact that Coach K is a media darling and has had most of his success at Duke, school the rest of college basketball loves to hate for its spoiled-brat reputation, hasn't helped. It's a lot like being Emperor Palpatine in Star Wars: You're pretty much the face of evil and oppression to the rest of the galaxy (in this case, college basketball).

There was never any doubt with this pick, as Bob Knight is college basketball's greatest villain ever.

At Indiana, he threw a folding chair across a court, choked a player, head-butted another and kicked his own son in the leg. Those are just a few examples of Knight's temper, infamous enough that it's been the subject of entire highlight reels. He also drew controversy outside the gym, like when he told Connie Chung during a 1988 interview: "I think that if rape is inevitable, relax and enjoy it."

As proof of how poorly the American public still views Knight, now an ESPN analyst, Forbes ranked him the No. 9 most disliked person in sports in 2011, among the likes of Terrell Owens, Manny Ramirez, Tiger Woods, Al Davis and Randy Moss.

Not that Knight cares. As he once eloquently put it, "I want them to bury me upside down, and my critics can kiss my (expletive)."

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